last night one of my students told me about a wedding he went to recently. it was a western style wedding as the bride and groom are christians. when it came to the end of the ceremony the groom lifted the bride's veil and then stopped. someone in attendance yelled out "there's one more thing you still need to do!" and the groom said "i don't know how". yes, he had never kissed anyone before. in fact neither the bride nor the groom had ever kisssed anyone before. so that was in effect their first kiss. the groom is in his 30s and the bride in her late 20s. but how do you get to that age without ever kissing anyone, not even your fiance? i was dumbfounded. i mean, it's true that taiwanese society tends to be somewhat coservative, but it's not that conservative.